Interesting Updates on the Prevalance of Mobile Broadband in the UK

Interesting Updates on the Prevalance of Mobile Broadband in the UK

Interesting news courtesy of Broadband Expert regarding the prevalence of mobile broadband in this country. There are definately some points made in this article which suprised me quite a lot.

For many years now there has been a steady increase in losses for landline voice services in the UK as many customers substitute them for mobile handsets.

The broadband access market is now being carefully watched by many broadband service providers for indications of any similar behaviour in this area. According to recent findings from the telecommunications regulator Ofcom, mobile broadband connections are relied upon completely by six percent of consumers in the UK, whilst a combination of fixed and mobile broadband services is used by 8 percent of homes in the UK.

Austria currently has more mobile broadband users than fixed line users, which is currently far higher than the number of consumers in the UK that rely purely on mobile broadband access services instead of fixed-line broadband.

Mobile broadband access is seen to be the main form of connection to the internet in the home for 41 percent of UK consumers and as was expected 43 percent of mobile broadband users said that their only form of internet access was through a mobile broadband connection.

The use of mobile broadband is currently driven by the wealthier UK demographic and is most popular with adults between the age of 15 and 34, which is similar to that of general broadband users. Just 10 percent of users rely solely on mobile broadband for internet access in the 15 to 34 age range at the moment.

Since 2008 many homes are more likely to use a mobile phone service than a fixed line for their voice services, with an increase in the penetration of all communication services except for fixed-lines. This shows that in terms of voice services the mobility trend is far more pronounced.

This is perhaps the most interesting statement from the entire article: Mobile broadband access is seen to be the main form of connection to the internet in the home for 41 percent of UK consumers and as was expected 43 percent of mobile broadband users said that their only form of internet access was through a mobile broadband connection.. As simply I did not realise that mobile broadband had taken off to the extent that it appears. It did occur to me that people might take out the netbook deals (bundled with Mobile Broadband) to get the free laptop, but it did not make sense that they might use MB as there main internet connection. Perhaps a sign of the times and how people are not wanting to be tied down to a TV/Phone/Internet package.

Like with all things developments like this could been seen to herald the end of the landline and its internet connection, which most people have (thanks in part to the aforementioned deals), but perhaps only use once in a blue moon. With younger people moving out of home, its probably best to have a mobile device rather then a contract which effectively stays in place in the home they are living in.

My predictions are that MB will continue to grow thanks in part to the ‘mobile’ generation in which we now live. Currently I am live testing a MI-FI device for a company, which is going really well! But it means everyday I lose apart of my soul as I can use things like Facebook,Twitter, and if I’m feeling really sad – Blog on the move. It simply is the time to be connected…